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Saturday, September 20, 2008

I've decided to write this little "set on point" tutorial for quilters. I love the look of diagonal settings, but every time I go to lay my blocks out, I find myself re-doing the math on how to get everything to where it needs to be. SO- I decided to just write it all here, to save for later and share with you.

This tutorial assumes you have 9 blocks measuring 12.5" (unfinished) and 12" after they're sewn into the quilt. -That's pretty much the quilt block standard size.

Now why would you have 9 stray blocks? Maybe you joined a swap online and it yeilded 9 blocks. Maybe you've been trying techniques and have a bunch of "orphan" blocks that would look great all set together. Or maybe you won your guild's lotto block swap, but 9 is not big enough for a quilt and the blocks aren't really suited for a wall-hanging or baby gift. My case- online swap {from 2004!!}. I did a bunch of pale blue baskets- a TON- and I ended up keeping 9 of them for myself. I didn't want to finish up the basket quilt, since I decided I needed Yo-Yo flowers. Well, I recently purchased a bundle of 60 Yo-Yo's from an ebay seller, dollysribbon. The Yo-Yo's are all pink and coordinated and are made very well. Thanks, Dollysribbon!

LAYOUT: Now, take all your pieces and lay them out. Its important to know where all your blocks are headed. Its especially important because those setting triangles can sometimes get turned around. In the event you're making an orphan sampler, you'll want to make sure the arrangement is pleasing, once its sewn. In my case, all my baskets needed to be pointing up. (The cynical side of me kinda wishes I would have tipped on over and made yo-yo flowers pouring out...) Here's the layout:

CONSTRUCTION: Now the diagonal row construction can start. I like to work in ONE direction, from right to left, all the way across. I do no sew pairs, I do not number blocks- I just sew one row at a time, right to left. Once all the rows are made, I add the corner pieces to Row 1 and Row 5.

With all the rows made, and all the corner triangles in place- this is how I assemble the top. I like to sew Row 1 & 2, and then Row 4 & 5. This makes it easier to manage the bulk under the sewing machine. I go back and add Row 3 to the center of my 1-2 and 4-5 new sections.

The two last large seams are left. Then the top is finished, on a diagonal setting.

Next step will be to press and mark the top. Baste the "quilt sandwich" and quilt through the three layers. I've got many soccer games and practices this fall, so you'll have to check back to see the finished quilt. I should have better pictures also, as the finished top will not need to be photo'd on the floor of my sewing room.

If you make it, feel free to share it in the ReannaLily Designs Flickr pool.I hope the diagonal setting tutorial was helpful to you. Have a great afternoon! ~jen~

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The content, photos, designs and text, are copyrighted by Reannalily Designs and are NOT authorized for use anywhere but here. If you would like to use one of the photos, please contact me via email. Reannalily Designs, Army Cube and Military Monster are all trademarked by ReannaLily Designs. (Jan 2008-present) Thanks! ~jen~